“When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “‘Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”’ “‘Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,”’ Elisha replied.”
~ 2 Kings 2:9
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you know what it means to ‘pass on the mantle’? A mantle is a cloak, cape, coat or robe. A mantle is used at times symbolically for a guy or gal to pass the responsibilities that he or she has had on to another guy or gal. In the summer of 1995 during OC International’s five week summer internships program’s closing activities – which your grandmaa and grandpaa had just gone through, the former President of OC International – Dick Hillis, formally handed over to Larry Keyes – the present President of OC International, the responsibilities that he had of being the guy who founded OC International. To publically acknowledge that he was passing on the unofficial leadership that he had as OC International’s founder, Dick Hillis symbolically put a mantle that he was wearing on Larry Keyes. This symbolic passing on of a mantle from Dick Hillis to Larry Keyes was meant for all the guys and gals present to see that Dick Hillis was once and for all stepping away from having any kind of influence in OC International.
The first ‘passing on of a mantle’ took place in 2 Kings 2. Elijah was an aging Israelite people group’s prophet. Elijah knew that his time on planet Earth as one of God’s prophet spokesmen was nearing an end. Elijah decided to make one more trip before . . . Elijah had been led by God to ‘draft’ a young guy – Elisha, to mentor to succeed him as a prophet when the moment arrived for God to remove him from planet Earth. Elijah and Elisha were in Gilgal when Elijah decided that he wanted to visit one more time the companies of prophets who were living in Bethel and in Jericho. Elijah wanted Elisha to stay in Gilgal but . . . when Elijah and Elisha arrived in Bethel, the company of prophets there told Elisha that God was going to take Elijah away that next day. Elisha told Bethel’s company of prophets that he knew that they were right in what they were telling him – that Elijah’s tenure on planet Earth was about to end. Elijah wanted Elisha to stay in Bethel but . . . Elisha was told the same thing by Jericho’s company of prophets. Elijah wanted Elisha to stay in Jericho but . . . Elisha insisted again on going on with Elijah. When Elijah and Elisha arrived at the Jordon River, Elijah took off his cloak, rolled up his clock and struck the Jordon River with his rolled up cloak. When Elijah struck the Jordon River with his rolled up cloak, the flowing Jordon River waters stopped and divided so that Elijah and Elisha could walk through the Jordon River without getting wet. When Elijah and Elisha got to the other side of the Jordon River, Elisha had Elijah ask him a question. The Kings Books historian recounted in what is now verse 9 “When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “‘Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”’ “‘Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,”’ Elisha replied.” How would you have responded to Elijah’s question? Elijah told Elisha that he would have a double portion of his spirit if he saw him being taken away by God. A short time later – as Elijah and Elisha were walking along and talking together, a chariot of fire and horses of fire suddenly swooped down out of heaven and passed between Elijah and Elisha. Elisha saw Elijah going up into heaven in a whirlwind. As the whirlwind picked up Elijah to take him to heaven, Elijah dropped his cloak. Once Elisha got done tearing his clothes apart – because he really felt bad having Elijah leave him once and for all, Elisha picked up Elijah’s cloak and headed back in the direction that he and Elijah had come from a short time before. When Elisha picked up Elijah’s cloak, it was as if Elijah was ‘passing on his mantle’ to Elisha. When Elisha arrived back at the Jordon River, Elisha did the same thing that Elijah had done when Elijah rolled up his cloak to strike the Jordon River for it to open up a path for he and Elisha to cross through to the other side without getting wet. Your grandpaa could have used Elijah’s cloak a number of times when your grandmaa and grandpaa made trips to and from the rural resident leadership training center. The very first trip that your grandmaa and grandpaa made from Santa Cruz, Bolivia to Concepción, Ñuflo de Chávez to start up the rural resident training program was with James Davids and Jay DePaul. James and Jay both had pickups. Your grandpaa filled the backs of their pickups with tables, chairs, and supplies that would be used in the startup of the resident training program in Concepción. The first two week class module – with the classes being taught Monday through Friday for three hours each morning, began in January of 1982 at the rural resident training center in Concepción. There are a couple of streams between the Rio Grande and Concepción that James and Jay had to drive their pickups through. Because the water was so high in these streams – as January is in the middle of Bolivia’s rainy season, James and Jay needed to loosen up their pickup’s fan belts each time to get through these streams so that water would not be sprayed by the spinning fan blades over their pickup’s motor and distributor which would have caused the pickup’s motor to stop.
Elisha took being one of God’s prophet spokesmen very seriously. One of the first things that Elisha did as a prophet was to throw salt into Jericho’s water supply. Jericho’s water was making guys, gals and kids sick. After Elisha threw salt into Jericho’s water supply, Jericho’s water became still today wholesome and drinkable. Elisha then headed for Bethel. On his way to Bethel, kids began calling Elisha baldy. God sent two bears to chew on the kids. Your grandpaa believes that when one of His spokesmen or workers is being ridiculed by even kids, that God feels the ridicule personally – that God will make sure that the ridicule is stopped one way or another. Elisha has become your grandpaa’s favorite Bible character. Your grandpaa has asked God for the kind of double portion that he gave to Elisha when . . . your grandpaa believes that God is reflecting His glory through him back to Himself.
2 Kings 2 (306)